August 2017 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops

Estimated Comics Shipped to North American Comics Shops
Based on Reports from Diamond Comic Distributors

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The month of August 2016 was the epicenter of the DC Rebirth sales earthquake, with more than 10 million comic books shipping; it was the first time that mark had been seen in two decades, thanks in part to the Rebirth titles being returnable. Consequently, sales for August 2017, when DC's fall Metal event was just starting and Marvel's fall Legacy event had not yet begun, could not compare. Shipments were down 26% in new comic book units, and overall retail dollars spent on comics, graphic novels, and magazines dropped by nearly 21%.

The period from June to August was down 20.5% against those Rebirth/Civil War II months a year before, the worst three-month year-over-year comparison since September 1997 though November 1997. (Marvel’s “Heroes Reborn” event in September 1996and the wedding of Supermanhad been succeeded in 1997 by“Heroes Return,”which didn’t fare as well.) But a bigger explanation for the 1997 collapse was the number of comics shop failures, on a scale not seen in 2017 — and given that DC launched so many more books in 2016, the scope of 2017’s comparatives said more about Rebirth’s strength than anything else.

And while DC's orders came nowhere near the levels of the previous August, its sales were higher than the last five-week month before Rebirth in 2016, and its Dark Nights: Metal #1 not only led the market, but at 262,000 $4.99 copies shipped, it became the top-selling issue of the year through August in both units and dollars. More remarkably, it outpaced the first-month sales of DC Universe Rebirth #1, the launch issue for the Rebirth event in May 2016; that book cost $2 less and would eventually ship more than 300,000 copies in North America, reprints included. Marvel's Secret Empire also came to a close, placing three issues in the top 10.

Sales levels in the lower tiers of the charts
improved, with the 300th-place comic shipping 5,621 copies, the highest number since December 2015.

This list includes all items on Diamond's Top 300 charts, plus any post-#300 items from its Top 50 Indy and Small Publisher charts. If you don't see a book, Diamond released no data for it.
Items marked with asterisks [*] had their reported orders reduced by 10% due to returnability.
Distributor charts are regional commodity reports, not measures of a work's total reach. Read our FAQ.
The links lead to current listings for each item on eBay. You can also find the books at your comics shop.

(-30% vs. same month previous year)(-7% vs. same month 5 years earlier)(-14% vs. same month 10 years earlier)(unchanged vs. same month 15 years earlier)(-21% vs. same month 20 years earlier)

Category to date for year:53.62 million copies(-8% vs. previous year)

All comics sold by Diamond (in units)7.6 million copies(-26% vs. same month previous year)

Year to date60.65 million copies(-6% vs. previous year)

COMICS DOLLAR SALES

The Top 300 Comics sold had a total retail price of$25.52 million

(-25% vs. same month previous year)(unchanged vs. same month 5 years earlier)(+4% vs. same month 10 years earlier)(+40% vs. same month 15 years earlier)(+23% vs. same month 20 years earlier)

Category to date for year:$206.24 million(-8% vs. previous year)

All comics sold by Diamond (in dollars)(-26% vs. same month previous year)

Year to date(-10% vs. previous year)

GRAPHIC NOVEL DOLLAR SALES

The Top 300 Graphic Novels sold had a total retail price of$6.69 million

(-11% vs. same month previous year)(-13% vs. same month 5 years earlier)(-17% vs. same month 10 years earlier, comparing just the Top 100 vs. Top 100)(-7% vs. same month 15 years earlier, comparing just the Top 50 vs. the Top 50)

Category to date for year:$57.7 million(-9% vs. previous year)

All graphic novels sold by Diamond (in dollars)(-7% vs. same month previous year)

Year to date(-12% vs. previous year)

COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVEL DOLLAR SALES

The Top 300 Comics and Top 300 Graphic Novels sold had a combined total retail price of$32.21 million

(-23% vs. same month previous year)(-12% vs. same month 5 years earlier)(-13% vs. same month 10 years earlier, comparing just the Top 100 GNs vs. Top 100 GNs)(+40% vs. same month 15 years earlier, comparing just the Top 50 GNs vs. the Top 50 GNs)

Category to date for year:$263.97 million(-8% vs. previous year)

All comics and graphic novels sold by Diamond (in dollars)(-21% vs. same month previous year)

Note: This category diverges slightly from Diamond's reported measures for all comics and graphic novels. Slight differences are introduced by the presence of magazines and other factors.

Average cost of comics in the Top 300:$3.85

Average cost of comics in the Top 300, weighted by orders:$3.87

Average cost of comics in the Top 25:$3.99

Median cost of comics in the Top 300:$3.99

Most common cost of comics in the Top 300:$3.99

MARKET SHARES

Share of Overall Units

Marvel

39.52%

DC

31.09%

Image

9.23%

IDW

3.69%

Dynamite

3.58%

Dark Horse

2.18%

Boom

1.88%

Titan

1.25%

Oni

0.82%

Valiant

0.77%

Archie

0.58%

Viz

0.52%

Aftershock

0.50%

Action Lab

0.49%

Avatar

0.37%

Zenescope

0.30%

Random House

0.22%

Fantagraphics

0.16%

St. Martins

0.12%

Hachette

0.09%

Other

2.63%

Share of Overall Dollars

Marvel

35.01%

DC

28.18%

Image

10.06%

IDW

4.81%

Dark Horse

3.16%

Dynamite

2.50%

Boom

2.19%

Titan

1.48%

Viz

1.42%

Oni

1.28%

Avatar

0.96%

Random House

0.83%

Valiant

0.81%

Archie

0.69%

Action Lab

0.55%

Fantagraphics

0.53%

Aftershock

0.47%

St. Martins

0.38%

Hachette

0.31%

Zenescope

0.30%

Other

4.08%

Items in Top 300

Marvel

104

DC

75

Image

42

IDW

19

Dynamite

14

Dark Horse

9

Boom

9

Valiant

6

Aftershock

4

Oni

4

Action Lab

3

Titan

3

Albatross

2

Archie

2

Abstract

1

Benitez

1

Devil's Due

1

Udon

1

Share of Units in Top 300

Marvel

45.33%

DC

35.91%

Image

8.18%

IDW

2.46%

Dynamite

1.70%

Dark Horse

1.38%

Boom

1.15%

Valiant

0.79%

Titan

0.68%

Oni

0.62%

Aftershock

0.41%

Archie

0.32%

Action Lab

0.31%

Albatross

0.26%

Benitez

0.19%

Devil's Due

0.12%

Abstract

0.10%

Udon

0.09%

Share of Dollars in Top 300

Marvel

47.14%

DC

33.93%

Image

7.89%

IDW

2.58%

Dynamite

1.77%

Dark Horse

1.42%

Boom

1.18%

Valiant

0.81%

Titan

0.70%

Oni

0.64%

Aftershock

0.43%

Action Lab

0.41%

Archie

0.33%

Albatross

0.27%

Benitez

0.19%

Devil's Due

0.12%

Abstract

0.10%

Udon

0.09%

Dollar Share of Top 300 Comics & Top 300 TPBs

Marvel

43.20%

DC

32.55%

Image

10.53%

IDW

3.27%

Dark Horse

2.09%

Dynamite

1.44%

Boom

1.43%

Oni

0.90%

Valiant

0.73%

Titan

0.67%

Viz

0.52%

Archie

0.40%

Action Lab

0.35%

Aftershock

0.34%

Random House

0.26%

Albatross

0.24%

Fantagraphics

0.24%

Avatar

0.17%

Benitez

0.15%

Devil's Due

0.10%

Abstract

0.08%

Udon

0.07%

Vault

0.07%

Drawn & Quarterly

0.05%

St. Martins

0.03%

Abrams

0.03%

Lion Forge

0.03%

Humanoids

0.02%

Black Mask

0.02%

Tokyopop

0.02%

New comics released

Marvel

106

DC

78

Image

62

IDW

56

Dynamite

30

Boom

25

Dark Horse

20

Titan

20

Oni

8

Other

119

TOTAL

524

New graphic novels released

Marvel

40

DC

29

Viz

26

IDW

22

Image

18

Dark Horse

16

Titan

13

Boom

10

Oni

7

Dynamite

6

Other

182

TOTAL

369

THE FINE PRINT

The monthly sales estimates at right are for items shipped by Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest comic-book distributor in North America.

Diamond does not publish sales figures; instead it publishes "indexed" sales tables, in which it keys orders for all comics it lists sales for to a single comic book (usually Batman), with one “order index point” being equal to 1% of that title’s orders.

Along with other methods, we use the actual Diamond final orders from titles to approximate what an order index point equals each month.The result is applied to the Diamond charts to produce the estimates seen at right.

The figures represent only those comics and graphic novels that Diamond shipped to North American retailers in the calendar month. While Diamond's sales represent the majority of periodicals in circulation, they are a smaller portion of the overall graphic novel market.

An item may appear in more than one month's charts due to reorders; for a better idea of a comic book's overall sales, look for its end-of-year sales in the Year Overview section, where available.

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